April 24, 2009
MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to a steal a 4-3 win over Purdue in the opening game of a Big Ten series at the Metrodome on Friday. The loss, Purdue's fourth straight conference defeat, dropped the Boilers to 17-19 for the year and 5-7 in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers improved to 25-12 overall and kept pace with the conference leaders at 8-4 in the league.
Leading 3-1 after eight and half, Purdue starter Matt Bischoff was poised for his fourth complete game effort in five Big Ten starts, but a ninth-inning leadoff single AJ Pettersen and a walk to Derek McCallum was followed by a two-run double by a Michael Kvansnicka to force the right-hander from the game with nobody out and the contest with knotted at 3-3.
Reliever Kevin Cahill entered and loaded the bases on a single by Kyle Knudson and a walk to Nick O'Shea before getting Kvansnicka at the plate on a fielder's choice grounder to short for the first out in the frame.
Justin Gominsky followed with a liner to right that was just deep enough to plate Knudson with the game-winning run on the sacrifice fly.
Tied 1-1 after seven complete, Purdue had rallied to take the ill-fated two-run lead in the top of the eighth on a sac fly by Ben Wolgamot and a two-out double by John Cummins, but Dan Black was thrown out at the plate on a close play on Cummins' double to end the inning and limit the damage to just the pair of runs.
Bischoff, who was on the losing end of a 1-0 shutout against Ohio State, was charged with his fourth loss of the season after allowing four runs on six hits in eight-plus innings of work. He struck out seven and walked just two.
Minnesota reliever Luke Rasmussen (3-0) picked up the win after tossing two shutout innings in relief of starter Chanucy Handran.
Purdue's Brandon Haveman, who finished the game 3 for 5 with a run scored, was the only player for either team to have multiple hits in the contest.
The Boilers and the Gophers will meet up for game two of the three-game series on Saturday at 3 p.m. EDT. Left-hander Matt Jansen is the scheduled starter for Purdue.